06 April 2014

2014 NCAA Tournament: National Championship Predictions

There you have it America, a seven seed taking on an eight seed in the 2014 National Championship Game. It surely has been an NCAA Tournament to remember but even then, I do not know too many folks that would have had a Connecticut-Kentucky showdown at its conclusion. Actually I don't know any, so there's that.

We have whittled down the Final Four to two, but there can only be one team cutting down the nets Monday night in Arlington? Will it be the Huskies winning their fourth title or will be it be the Wildcats winning their ninth title? Here are my predictions.

Sometimes, we utilize a cliché saying that a team may be a "team of destiny." The problem with that cliché is that you could apply that to both teams in this game. For the seventh-seeded Huskies, the first ever seven seed to get to the championship game, they could have very well lost in their opening game in Buffalo against St. Joe's, and a lot of folks were thinking they would lose to Florida. For the eighth-seeded Wildcats, they have been widely seen as a disappointment all season long considering the prodigious hype that surrounded their recruiting class and the ensuing top ranking in the preseason polls.

Theoretically, if you can get to the championship game, you can win the championship game. But while one cannot deny the similarities this Connecticut club has with the 2011 club that won it all (and beat Kentucky on the way), I do think the Wildcats will win.

Kentucky has had to fight hard in their wins over Wichita State, Louisville, Michigan and then Wisconsin last night. Aaron Harrison had donned the hero cape with back-to-back game-winning threeballs, the shooting from the perimeter as a whole has been tremendous and the frontcourt has been awesome of late, with Julius Randle starring in particular. Yes, UConn was able to manhandle Florida, but Kentucky's frontcourt is deeper and more talented than Florida's.